A/HRC/35/23/Add.1 former lieutenant and former private security guard at the hydroelectric company — against which Ms. Caceres had led a legal battle — and a high-ranking employee at the hydroelectric company. The Government informed the Special Rapporteur that investigations regarding the masterminds of the crime were ongoing. Many feared, however, that the prosecutions would not lead to effective convictions and that the masterminds of the crime would remain unpunished. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the family and colleagues of Ms. Cáceres had demanded the establishment of an independent international mechanism to assist in the investigation of her death. Concerns grew further when Ms. Cáceres’ case file was stolen in late September 2016 from a car driven by a Supreme Court magistrate, which prompted the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras to demand an urgent investigation into the robbery and condemned the serious irresponsible action of the judge concerned. 14 The case file had reportedly included evidence against several suspects.15 The file was rebuilt on the basis of copies kept in court. Sensitive information about Ms. Caceres legal case was also stolen from the offices of the Broad Movement for Justice and Dignity. The Special Rapporteur continues to follow the case. B. Journalists and media workers 40. The general context of violence against journalists and media workers in Honduras worsened after the 2009 coup d’état and persists to date. Journalists are victims of physical assaults, attacks, death threats and homicide. In total, 36 journalists were killed in Honduras between 2010 and 2014.16 Although estimates vary regarding the exact number, all show a dramatic increase in homicides in 2010 compared with previous years. 17 The National Human Rights Commission reported that 43 journalists had been murdered between 2010 and 2014. While numbers have been declining since 2011, they have not fallen back to precoup levels.18 41. Authorities fail to investigate effectively and prosecute most crimes against journalists. In February 2015, the National Human Rights Commission reported that the lack of effective investigations affected 96 per cent of the cases and that authorities had handed down convictions in only 4 per cent of the 50 cases in which media workers had been killed between 2003 and 2014.19 42. The lack of accountability for crimes against journalists impedes the establishment of whether the crimes are connected with their work and thus promotes the notion that journalists are simply victims of generalized violence. 43. Since 2013, the Section on Violent Deaths of Persons from Vulnerable Groups of the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Life deals with cases of violence against journalists and other affected groups, a responsibility previously assigned to the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights Defenders. The transfer reportedly led to a reduced focus on the particularities of violence against journalists. 20 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 See www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-102/16. See www.amnesty.ca/our-work/individuals-risk/berta-caceres-and-human-rights-defenders-honduras. Data from the Section on Violent Deaths of Persons from Vulnerable Groups, provided by the Government. See PEN International, Journalism in the Shadow of Impunity (Toronto and London, 2014), p. 19. Available from www.pen-international.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Honduras-Journalism-in-theShadow-of-Impunity1.pdf. See Human Rights Watch, World Report 2016 (New York, 2015), p. 293. Available from www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/world_report_download/wr2016_web.pdf. See Situation of Human Rights in Honduras, p. 83, and article by Teleprensa, available in Spanish from www.teleprensa.com/honduras/11-personas-vinculadas-a-los-medios-de-comunicacionmurieron-en-circunstancias-violentas-en-honduras.html. See Journalism in the Shadow of Impunity, p. 29. 9